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“I would say give yourself 30 days of visualizing every morning for 10 minutes every morning. What your life will look like in five years if you don't make any changes. And a lot of times, it's the realization that if you are living that sort of life where you're afraid to take the opportunities or to take the leaps, it's so much better to bet on yourself than it is to allow the world to happen to you.”
Before Gloci, there was an entirely different business.
Lori Harder had raised $2 million for a beverage company she believed in, only to discover that the economics no longer worked. Faced with a decision many founders hope they never have to make, she had to rethink the business, rebuild her confidence, and find a new path forward.
On The Entreprenista Podcast, we don’t just talk about success, we uncover the elephants in the room that most people try to hide. In this episode, serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, and Earn Your Happy host Lori Harder gets real about fear, failure, and the messy middle of building a business. From growing up in a restrictive religion without a high school diploma, to losing everything during the 2008 recession, Lori shares how she turned setbacks into fuel for her entrepreneurial journey.
You’ll hear the behind-the-scenes story of launching her first venture, pivoting into personal development, and ultimately founding Gloci. Along the way, Lori shares how she learned to embrace vulnerability as her superpower, why mentorship and community are essential for growth, and the bold mindset shifts that helped her raise capital and scale her vision.
You can listen to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Here Are a Few Moments From the Podcast
Lori opens up about the beliefs she carried for years before becoming an entrepreneur:
"I did not graduate high school. I was homeschooled through high school and never ended up finishing. I was raised in a more restrictive religion. College was actually fairly frowned upon when I grew up because it was about growing up and dedicating your life to the service of God.
And even then I found myself being in my early twenties saying, 'I am not educated. I did not graduate high school. I do not feel smart.'
So I ended up just doing all of these different random jobs that I would lie about graduating on the resume. I worked at a coffee shop. I worked at Ulta. I did makeup for a while. I worked at the front desk of a hair salon as the receptionist."
She explains how losing everything during the 2008 recession became a turning point:
"In 2008 there was the big recession. The big crash. My husband lost his job, we lost our home, we lost our cars. We were $300,000 in debt.
It wasn't until the moment that I saw my husband really crumble and lose his identity that my back was so up against the wall that I had to set all of my fear and anxiety and 'I'm not smart enough' aside and say, 'You gotta step up.'
It was my moment of, 'You have nothing to lose. You have to step up. What are you gonna do?'"
When Lori began learning how to raise capital, one lesson changed everything:
"You will never get better until you expose your deepest vulnerabilities.
We try to get on these calls and we try to pretend like we understand what people are saying and we try to sound smart. Fail. That will be the biggest fail that you will ever do.
I remember where I didn't ask questions and I got off the call and I was like, 'I just had an hour with a mentor who could have changed my life, but I was too proud to tell them I didn't understand these 20 words, so I didn't understand a damn thing.'"
After raising $2 million, Lori received a phone call that forced her to rethink everything:
"She gets on the phone and she essentially says, 'I'm getting on the phone to tell you you shouldn't do this anymore.'
I thought she was my knight in shining armor. I wanted to cry and I got off the phone and she really told me, 'Look, you either need to raise 10 million more dollars and know that this is a business where you'll probably be operating in the red for most of it and hope to sell, or you need to rethink this.'
I was like, 'Oh my God, this is devastating.'"
The realization that led to Gloci came during one of the most difficult periods of her entrepreneurial journey:
"I had woken up in the middle of the night and I got this sentence: 'Turn the Titanic.'
Right away it was, 'You have all of these women on the ship. They don't necessarily care about the destination. They're all having a good time. They want to learn. They want to be a part of something bigger.
You can see the iceberg. Nobody else can. It's not about the destination. Your job is to find a new destination and get them really excited about the new destination.'"
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Connect with Lori Harder
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Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for women founders and leaders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.
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Updated on: June 26, 2026
Guests
Lori Harder
Hosts
Stephanie Cartin
Co-founder of Socialfly and Entreprenista.
Stephanie Cartin is the co-founder and CEO of Entreprenista, an all-in-one platform – which includes a private community & business membership called The Entreprenista League that's made up of over 2,000 women founders at all stages of business, a weekly newsletter received by 60,000 readers, two podcasts, in-person educational & networking events, and an award program – that women founders at all stages can turn to for everything they need to grow.
Stephanie is also the co-founder of Socialfly (acquired by Truform Media Group in 2024), Markid, and Pearl Influential Capital. She has won countless awards, including the SmartCEO Brava award, which recognizes the top women CEOs in New York, and a Stevie Award for Women-Run Workplace of the Year. She has also appeared in Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Refinery29, and more.
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